Button



NITE STATES ATENT OFFICE.

BUTTON- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 312,770, dated February 24, 1885.

Application'filed October 9, 1884.

T aZZ whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. F. SMITTEN, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Studs and Buttons, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to that class of studs and buttons having their posts and their backs or shoes fixed.

One object of the invention is to provide a shirt-stud of this kind which will not only be retained very securely when in its place in an ordinary button -hole, but may be inserted into such hole very easily without marring the edges thereof, or in any wise disfiguring the surrounding parts of the shirt. Another object is to save stock in the backs of such studs or buttons.

The invention consists" in the novel construction of the post and'back or shoe, as

hereinafter described and claimed.

The accompanying drawings represent, on a scale considerably larger than the real size, three different buttons, slightly varying in form, but all being examples of my invention.

Figures 1 and 2 are side views at right an.- gles to each other, and Fig. 3 a back view of the same button. Fig. 4 is a side view, and Fig. 5 a back view, of another button. Fig.

, 6 is a side View of a third button.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In all the figures, A designates the head, B designates the post, and O designates the back.

In all the examples represented the back is elongated or long and narrow, and tapering from the middle of its sides toward the ends,

and it lies directly across the center of the head, and the post, which is concentric with the head, is of substantially fiat form in whole or in part, and its flat sides are transverse to the length of the back. The proportions of the length and width of the back are such that instead of its being a broad plate, as is usual with buttons of this class, it approximates the form of a mere bar tapering toward both ends, the object being to provide for its being introduced into the button hole by placing it lengthwise over the hole and pushing it directly thereinto.

(bl'o model.)

In all the examples the fiat part is contracted or narrower near the head and widened toward the back to or nearly to the full width of the back, the widest part in Figs. 4 and 5 being of even greater width than the back.

The example represented in Fig. 6 only differs from that shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 in that, instead of having a flat post made of one piece of metal, it has asubstantially flat post made of two pieces of wire placed side by side.

The stud or button, having its back and post constructed as in any of these examples of my invention, is inserted into the button-hole by placing its back lengthwise over the length or" the hole and pushing it directly through. When the back has been thus inserted through the one or more holes which the stud is to occupy in a garment, the fiat of the post will at first lie across the hole or holes, and the stud or button requires to turn to bring the length of the back across the hole or holes and the flat of the post parallel to the latter, and the stud or button will then be kept secure in the hole or holes by the length of the back occupying a position crosswise thereto,

and being held in that position by the flat of the post being parallel with the sides of the hole or holes. This turning of the post in the hole or holes is very easily accomplished, owing to the contraction of the post near the head, and in fact will effect itself automatically if the button or stud is pushed into the hole or holes close up to its head and, moreover, the said contraction enables the button to be turned easily in the hole or holes by taking hold of the head when it is desired to bring the length of the back parallel with the length of the hole or holes for the purpose of taking out the button or stud.

In order to obtain sufficient width of po to prevent the bar or back from turning accidentally to the position in which its length is parallel with the hole or holes, and from which it might easily pass out from the hole or holes and be lost, the post may be made wider than the back itself when the latter is very narrow, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The post may be either solid or hollow.

I am aware that English Patent No. 898, dated March 25, 1872, shows a button having an elongated shoe piece or back and-a flat post at right angles to each other, and that the said post is wider than the back, and a portion of it is contracted; but in thatbutton it is the wide part of the post that is next the head and the contracted part that is next the shoe, the relation of the post to the head and the shoe being precisely the reverse of that in my invention. The contraction being next the head, as in my invention, allows the outer ply of a cuff to turn freely, which is desirable, and allows the button or stud to turn or be turned freely in inserting ortaking it out, while the broad part being near the back better prevents the back from accidentally turning to a position to slip out. The advantage of my invention will therefore be well understood when it is considered that it is ordinarily only the back of a button that can pass through the hole, the head being generally too large to do so.

"In view of the English patent above referred to, I-donot claim, broadly, a stud or button having a flat post and an elongated head the length of which is transverse to the flat of the post; nor do I claim a button having a post wider in part than the back; but

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. A stud or button having an elongated fixed back which lies across the center of the head, and a fixed flat post, the sides of which are transverse to the length of the back, and which is contracted near the head, substan tially as herein described.

2. Astnd orbnttonhavingafixed back consisting of a bar, and a fixed post which is wider than the said bar at the part next thereto, which is contracted near the head of the button or stud, substantially as herein described.

T. V. F. SMITTEN.

\Vitnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, EMIL SOIUVARTZ.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 312,770, granted February 24, 1885, upon the application of Thomas W. FfSmitten, of Brooklyn, New York, for an improvement in Buttons, a typographical error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: In line 92, page 1, the word p0 should read post and that the Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein to make it conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 10th day of March, A. D. 1885.

M. L. JOSLYN, Acting Secretary of the Interior.

[SEAL] Oountersi gned R. G. "DYRENFORTH, Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

